Beef Bowls
by Pegashush
Summary: Naoto and Yu have a little heart-to-heart once they realize why they're both putting up with their two closest friends stuffing their faces with beef bowls on a cold, rainy day. A short one-shot. Originally posted on AO3 on 9/30/14.


Naoto Shirogane wasn't exactly sure how she ended up at Aiya.

Well, that wasn't quite right. Naoto wasn't sure why she was at Aiya, if she was being honest. It hadn't been in her plans to visit the small Chinese restaurant- it had been rainy a bit too hard to consider participating in activities like this, but she still found herself in the building nonetheless.

She looked down at the small beef bowl she had ordered with a glum look on her face, her hat pulled down to keep her eyes hidden. She wasn't even hungry in the first place, which was just another reason for her confusion. It was an highly illogical action that was very out of character for one Naoto Shirogane.

A pair of voices interrupted her wandering thoughts, one laughing, the other biting back a curse. Angling her head to the side, she caught sight of two backs, one green, the other black and covered with the image of a skull.

Ah yes, that's right. _Now_ she remembered why she ended up at Aiya.

She had wanted to walk home with Kanji.

It was a simple and foolproof plan, really. She left her class and waited for him at the lockers to find out if he was interested in walking home with her. When Kanji did arrive, he agreed to the request almost instantaneously. The duo was preparing to leave when a voice called out to them. Turning, Kanji and Naoto saw that Yu and Chie were approaching them. Well, more like Chie was approaching them with Yu in tow.

The four friends struck up a conversation, and Chie revealed her plan to defeat the Rainy Day Special at Aiya. Her competitive streak and Kanji's unwavering desire to prove his manliness led to the two boisterous bruisers challenging each other to see who could complete the special the fastest. At that point, with her plans gone awry, Naoto found herself to be an unwilling passenger for an idiotic test of appetite between two of her closest friends.

She looked back down at the bowl in front of her, sighing in defeat. Perhaps she should just leave now, she wondered, as Kanji and Chie seemed so wrapped up in their little "game" that they would hardly notice Naoto's departure.

Shaking her head one last time, Naoto's shoulders slumped, and she moved to get up from the small table she was seated at.

"I'm sorry." Yu stated, a strain in his voice. His voice interrupted Naoto's movement, and she looked up to see that their "leader" had been sitting across from her the whole time. His face was contorted from its usual cool passiveness, concern and regret creasing his brow and curling his lips downward.

"What do you have to apologize for?" Naoto asked, looking at him from under the brim of her cap. "It is natural for groups of friends to come together like this, yes?"

"I'm the one who gave Chie the idea to come here." Yu admitted, a hand snaking back behind his neck to rub at it awkwardly, a trait he had inherited from Yosuke. "I also would have preferred it if you and Kanji hadn't have come."

"You're not pleased to spend time with us?" Naoto questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Not really. Not _today_, at least." Yu answered, his head lowering towards the table, a guilty look on his face. "No offense to you guys, I just..."

"None taken- I can share that sentiment, Yu." Naoto replied, cutting him off.

"Again, I'm sorry." Yu repeated, looking downward at his own untouched bowl.

Silence passed between the two of them for a moment, the sounds of the shop and of their mirthful friends filling the gap in the conversation. The detective and the leader both looked around the room, anywhere but at the two seated nearby as well as each other. Finally, Yu spoke, breaking the silence.

"So, what's got you so upset?" Yu asked, finally looking at Naoto, lips quirked into a smirk. "I mean, I know why I'm upset, but you..."

Naoto looked away, her face beginning to heat up. She pulled the brim of her cap down over her eyes before answering Yu.

"I-I wanted to spend some time with just Kanji." She began, stumbling over her words. "I thought we m-made a good team back in the T-TV, and..."

"You have a crush on him, don't you?" Yu asked, chuckling.

Naoto looked up at him, ready to retort his mirth with a scathing remark. She stopped short, however, when she saw the sad smile on his face.

"Looks like you were upset for the same reason I was." He continued, shaking his head and looking down at his beef bowl again, another bout of laughter emerging from his form.

"You and Chie?" Naoto asked, realization dawning on her face.

Yu nodded, continuing to laugh. Naoto's lips turned upward in a smile, and before she knew it she was chuckling right along with him.

"What a bunch of morons we are, ruining each others' dates." Yu joked, the sad look in his eyes slowly fading away.

"Perhaps we _should_ do this again sometime..." Naoto suggested, reaching down to open her chopsticks. "Provided we achieve our goals first, of course."

"Sounds like a plan." Yu answered, readying his own chopsticks.

With a nod and a grin, the two friends then looked downward to their beef bowls once more, joining their two friends in enjoying the restaurant's fine food.


End file.
